Spanish police have arrested five people for scamming two women out of €325,000 ($363,000) by pretending to be Hollywood star Brad Pitt via emails and WhatsApp messages.
The suspects reached out to the victims via a fan page dedicated to the Oscar-winning actor and made them believe “they had a sentimental relationship with him,” according to a statement from the Guardia Civil published on Monday.
Posing as Pitt, the fraudsters then allegedly encouraged the women to invest in various projects that did not exist.
One woman, from the southern region of Andalusia, was defrauded of €175,000 ($195,000), while another, from the northern Basque Country, lost €150,000 ($167,000). Police managed to recover €85,000 ($95,000) of the total.
“The cybercriminals, to capture the victims, had studied their social networks and made a psychological profile of them, thus discovering that both women were two vulnerable people, lacking in affection and in a state of depression,” the statement said.
According to police, members of the gang used instant messaging platforms to exchange messages and emails with the two women “until they reached a point where they believed they were chatting via WhatsApp with Brad Pitt himself, who promised them a romantic relationship and a future together.”
The two women reportedly made numerous bank transfers to the person they were convinced was Pitt until they realized they had been scammed and went to the police.
Police are also probing ten other people as part of their investigation dubbed Operation Bralina, which spanned eight Spanish provinces.
Investigators found that, as part of the fraud, a network of bank accounts had been created using fake identity documents.
They have raided five homes, seizing several mobile phones, bank cards, two computers and a diary “in which the phrases used by the fraudsters to deceive their victims were written down.”